Longitudinal sliding shift keys have been long used to selectively interconnect individual gears to a rotating shaft so as to alter the operative condition of a transmission. Typically, there is at least one longitudinal slot cut into the outer surface of the rotating shaft, with the shift key located therein. The gears surrounding the rotating shaft are freely journalled thereon. As the shift key is longitudinally moved in the slot, normally by a shift collar (itself interconnected to a shift lever), a tab on one end of the shift key interengages notches on the inner circumference of the individual gears thus connecting such gear to the shaft for rotation therewith. In recent units, the tab on the shift key is retractable with a spring loading bias outwards. This spring loading allows the shift key to be moved prior to the alignment of the tab with the interengaging notch in the gear. The spring loading type devices are customarily accompanied by some sort of indexing device, which device provides a positive stop for the shift key in locations corresponding to aligning the tab with the gears. This facilitates the functioning of the shift mechanism. Examples of shift key mechanisms include VonKaler Reexam 32,125, Toro U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,722, Italian Patent 475,179 and Japanese Patent 62-288750.